


Echoing Their Joyful Strains

by elliot_cant_write



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: F/M, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE, also college au, and one of the dumb snowed in things, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 09:33:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17159558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliot_cant_write/pseuds/elliot_cant_write
Summary: In which Orpheus and Eurydice end up stuck in her place of employment, and he tries to convince her to make music with him.





	Echoing Their Joyful Strains

Eurydice always worked Christmas Eve. Not because her boss was awful or anything, but because somebody had to and asides from having an amazing work ethic, Eurydice did not have anywhere worth going to or anything worth doing. Even putting all of that aside, it was probably the easiest night to work. While a small coffee shop in an only-a-little-bit-bigger town never got terribly crowded, it being Christmas Eve meant that hardly anyone was there at all.

Eurydice flipped a page in her book, glancing up for a second at the clock. It was almost eight o’clock, and technically she got to close up whenever the last person left. 

The last person had been there for almost an hour and ordered two coffees. Eurydice did not have much faith in him actually leaving in a timely manner. 

So she just rolled her eyes, and flipped another page in her book.

The last person, while technically a stranger, was not somebody who was unfamiliar to Eurydice. He was constantly coming into the coffee shop at slightly erratic times and probably drank more coffee than could possibly be healthy. Not that Eurydice was complaining. It was sleep deprived college kids that kept the shop in business. 

But truly, she just wished that he would leave. 

She turned a page. 

To add to her conflict/desire to go home, it had begun to snow forty-five or so minutes before and from what she could see, it was beginning to pile up. 

She turned a page. 

But truly, this whole situation was ridiculous. How oblivious could one be? It was snowing, it was late, and it was Christmas Eve. 

Eurydice closed her book and set it down on the counter, before crossing the shop to where the man was sitting.

“Excuse me,” She said, faking politeness with the talent of one who had worked in a position that required her to interact with a number of awful people for many years. However, he did not respond. “Excuse me!” She tried again. It was not until her third try that she realised that he had headphones in, plugged into the laptop he had been working on the whole time, and likely could not hear a word she was saying. So she tapped on his red-sweater-clad shoulder. 

“Oh my gosh.” He jumped, spinning around to face her as he took out his headphones. “Don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Sorry,” Eurydice quickly apologised, actually feeling a little bad about scaring him. Not that much though. “I hate to bother you, but it’s getting late. Are you going to be leaving sometime soon?”

“I was just going to leave whenever you closed up,” He said, giving her a ridiculously bright smile. That smile slid when he noticed her annoyed look. “Is that okay?” 

She took a deep breath. One of Eurydice’s big pride points in her life was that she never once had been anything less than polite to a customer, and she would not be losing that over this. “The thing was,” She said, terse. “I am not to close until the last customer leaves. So when that occurs relies entirely on you.”

“Oh, geez.” He quickly pulled his headphones out, turning off whatever he had on his laptop. “I am so sorry. The heat in my apartment went out, you see, and I kind of wanted to stay out as long as I could. But truly, if I had known I was the only one keeping you here, I would have left.” 

Eurydice felt bad about kicking him out to go back to his heatless apartment. Truly, she did. But even stronger than that was her want to just go home, see her cat, ignore the dishes her roommate had inevitably left dirty in the sink, and go to bed. “If you don’t mind then, I’ll be closing up now. The bus at the top of the corner should be picking up within the next five minutes, if you need a way to get home.”

He nodded, sliding his laptop into a bag and pulling on a thin green coat. “Thanks. Again, I’m so sorry about…” He waved his hand in some broad gesture. “Everything. Happy holidays!” And he scampered out with the doorbell ringing cheerfully behind him. 

Eurydice sighed in relief, closing her eyes. She did not dislike her job by any means, but it could get exhausting. She opened her eyes back up, pushing back a few strands of hair that had fallen from where the rest was piled upon her head. It was late, and she did intend on catching that last bus, so she rushed back behind the counter to where she had stored her boots and winter coat. She was midway through buttoning her coat up when she heard the door open again. Biting back a curse, she spoke without turning around. “I’m sorry, but we’re closed.” And she turned around, and there he was again. His dark hair had acquired a decent amount of snow flurries in his absence, but it was unmistakably the same man who had left hardly two minutes before. “What are you doing here?”

He looked slightly taken aback by her venomous tone. “Um, I thought you might like to know that the bus has been canceled. If you were planning on taking it.”

She was. “Damn it.”

The man nodded. “My thoughts as well. Anyway, I’ve got to go try to catch a cab. Get home safe.” And again, he was gone.

Eurydice found the whole interaction to be quite odd, although not unappreciated. It was nice of him to tell her, even if the whole scenario did leave her in a less than desirable situation. Although...there was one possible solution.

She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing a number. It was a few rings before the person on the opposite end picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Hermes. I’m so sorry to bother you so late, but I was just closing up the shop and long story short, I’m snowed in.”

“Shit, did it really get bad so fast? It wasn’t even an inch when I got in.”

Eurydice glanced out the window. “It’s falling heavy now. Has to be at least six inches. Do you mind if I spend the night?”

“Go ahead. There’s blankets and stuff in the closer if you want to sleep on the couch in the backroom. Do you want me to shoot Persephone a text and tell her you’re not going to be home?”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you so much. I feel really bad about leaving her alone though.”

Hermes laughed, deep and scratchy. “I wouldn’t worry about her being alone. I tried to call Hades earlier and nobody picked up. I’m guessing he’s still over at your place and based on the current weather, I’m also guessing he won’t be leaving.”

“Oh gosh, maybe it’s better that I’m gone then.”

“Yeah, it might be. Call me if you need anything.”

“Okay. Thanks, Hermes.”

“Goodnight.”

“‘Night.” She hung up, looking outside as if the snow could have somehow vanished during her conversation. It had not. 

Also still there, was that man. He was a few feet down the sidewalk, but still shuffling around, coat pulled tightly around him. Eurydice was fairly certain that he was still hoping the bus would show up, but the snow was only falling harder. 

...Eurydice was going to have to be a good person here, wasn’t she?

She opened the door, wincing as a cold blast of air hit her in the face. “Hey!” She called, trying to get his attention. “Do you want to wait inside?”

He turned around, looking confused. “Me?”

Eurydice shrugged. “Do you see anyone else out here?”

He quickly went over, shaking some snow off of his coat as Eurydice shut the door behind them. “Thank you so much.”

“Don’t thank me,” Eurydice said, crossing her arms over her chest. “My boss said I can stay here. So I’m extending that to you, mostly because I think that he would be really upset if I let a customer die right outside the door.”

He laughed, a sound that was light and surprisingly musical. “Well, thanks for not letting me freeze at least.”

“Do you have a name, mysterious nearly-frozen customer?”

“Orpheus.” He relaxed into an easy grin. “And do you?”

“Eurydice,” She responded. She picked her book back up off the counter. “I talked to my boss and he said that there are blankets in the backroom. If you want one.”

“I think I’m just going to try to get some more stuff done.” Orpheus took his laptop back out of his bag and reestablished the set up he had had before leaving. 

Eurydice shrugged, pulling her book back out and going to curl up in one of the arm chairs.

“What are you reading?” Orpheus asked, sounding weirdly interested. Eurydice held up her book so that he could see the cover. “The Fall of the House of Usher?”

“It’s for an American Literature course.” Eurydice said, opening the book and removing the book mark. “I’m not generally a fan of fiction.”

“But it’s so...imaginative!” Orpheus enthused, voice taking on a more dreamlike quality. “We’re bound by such strict rules in reality, but if you don’t want them, you can ignore them and make the world one you want to live in. I think that’s nice.”

Eurydice shrugged. “I suppose I’m just more of a realist. Besides, if you let yourself frolic around in a fantasy world whenever you so desire, are you not destined to end up disillusioned and unhappy with your real life?”

“I don’t think so,” He scooted his chair around so that he was facing Eurydice more directly. “Shouldn’t that make me want to better society? I know what the world has the ability to be. So what you might view as a sign that the world is a bad place, I can take as proof that the world just isn’t acting to its full potential. That doesn’t mean it can’t though, you know? One just needs to try to get it.”

“Philosophy major?”

Orpheus laughed, shaking his head. “Music. With a minor in English poetry composition.”

“So equally unprofitable.” Eurydice observed, mostly teasing. 

“What, are you doing the most practical path possible? Let me guess, nursing?”

“Not even close. Marketing.”

“Really?” He tilted his head, a very child-like and somewhat endearing gesture. “You don’t strike me as the business type.”

She raised an eyebrow, “And what then, poet, do I strike you as?” And if that sounded a little bit flirty when she said it, what could be done?

“Somebody who could make something beautiful.”

He was incredibly earnest, and Eurydice felt herself blush. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not!” Orpheus seemed to get more passionate the longer he spoke, and Eurydice couldn’t say she disliked it. She couldn’t say she disliked him. “I can imagine you as a dancer, or a singer or something.”

“I was in choir in high school, if that’s what you’re trying to get at.”

He beamed. “Exactly! Soprano?”

She nodded.

“Do you still sing? I’m trying to put together a collection of songs with multiple voice parts, and I’ve just been singing the soprano part myself, but I would love to have you, if you would be willing.”

“You don’t even know if I’m any good.”

“We could try now.”

Eurydice narrowed her eyes. “You want to hear me sing?” 

Orpheus’s stayed wide open. “If you’d be willing.”

“What?”

“Hm?”

“What should I sing?”

He shrugged. “Anything you’d like.” 

Eurydice took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. This was some guy whom she had never met before in her life, whom she had ended up snowed-in at a coffee shop with, and who was now trying to convince her to sing on his mixtape, or whatever it was that he was making. He was weird, but she kind of wanted to impress him. Which was a little bit embarrassing.

She summoned up the memory of one of the songs she had sang in high school - a winter concert piece, because theme - and quietly began to sing.

“Gaudete, gaudete, Christus est natus. Ex Maria virgine, gaudete,” Her voice shook a little and her pitch fell off a bit at the end, two things she quickly tried to fix. Open your mouth. Breathe deeply. Use your whole body. She repeated those lines again, stronger this time, before moving into the verse. “Tempus adest gratiae, hoc quod optabamus. Carmina laetitiae devote redamus.”

Eurydice repeated the chorus once more, before trailing off. “Was that okay?” She asked anxiously, both really wanting to know what he thought and also resenting herself a little for caring so much. 

Orpheus just stared at her, eyes ridiculously wide. “Wow.”

•

Orpheus was very straight shooting when he was excited, Eurydice quickly learned. After she sang, he instantly launched into a long list of all the things he liked about her voice, and then he talked some more about all the reasons he thought she would work for the soprano part of his writing. (“You’ve just… you know how a lot of soprano parts have a really innocent and childish feel to them? You don’t have that. Which is good. I want a more mature, experienced sound, you know? And that you do have.”) Then, once he had exhausted that topic, he moved on to everyone else he was working with.

By this point, Orpheus’s little workstation had been completely abandoned and he was sitting in one of the other arm chairs, leaning forward towards Eurydice. 

“My roommate is doing the bass part and he’s amazing. His voice is crazy deep; it just fills a room and causes everything to vibrate. It’s so cool,” It was kind of cute, watching him. He was just so excited. “Then his girlfriend is doing the alto part. She’s really talented too. She does this cool growly thing with her voice that just adds so much and makes her so unique. We’ve only been working together for the past few weeks, but I’m enjoying it so much.”

And there was when things got weird. 

Eurydice’s roommate was an alto, with a really growly voice that Eurydice regularly heard coming from her shower. Her boyfriend had the deepest voice she had ever heard. And his roommate was a music major. 

Eurydice closed her eyes. “You’re Hades’s roommate, aren’t you?” 

“Yes, do you know him?” Orpheus asked sounding pleasantly surprised.

“I suppose. I’m Persephone’s roommate.”

Orpheus, if possible, sounded even more delighted. “Really? That’s even better!” His face relaxed into an easy smile, the kind that Eurydice has never seen looking out at her from a mirror. “So, are you in?”

Eurydice was sitting in a coffee shop on Christmas Eve, snowed in, with a man she had met only hours before. What was a better time to be impulsive?

“Okay,” She said, “I’ll do it.”

•

At some point, Orpheus had pulled up a movie on his laptop. Then sometime later, they had both ended up on the floor in a pile of blankets and pillows while half paying attention to a second movie. 

That was where Eurydice woke up, face pressed into Orpheus’s shoulder. The end credits of something-or-the-other were running across the laptop screen, and light was shining through the store windows in the impossibly bright way that it only could the morning after it had snowed. 

She pushed some hair out of her eyes, belatedly reprimanding herself for letting it get so tangled, and took in her surroundings. 

Orpheus has his arm stretched out in an angle that couldn’t possibly have been comfortable, resting up against Eurydice’s shoulder. His head was tilted to the side so that his hair brushed against the top of her head. It was kind of cute. He was kind of cute. Eurydice was kind of screwed. 

She carefully detangled herself, placing a pillow up against Orpheus so that he wouldn’t completely fall over. Then she went to go make herself a cup of coffee. 

Outside the window, Eurydice could see that most of the snow had melted, something which was surprising until she glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost noon. 

Hoping it wouldn’t be loud enough to wake up Orpheus, she turned on the coffee maker and waited until it was done to pour a cup for herself. She left the rest for Orpheus, in case he wanted it. 

She had just brought the cup up to her mouth when somebody loudly knocked on the door, nearly scaring the shit out of her. A few seconds later, during which she did not answer, whomever it was knocked again. Then, they called out: “Eurydice? Are you alive?” 

Hermes! Eurydice quickly went to unlock the door, letting the man in. “Hello!”

“I’ve been trying to call ya, but I figured you were still asleep.” He looked around, eyes stalling on where Orpheus was still passed out. “Is that Hades’s roommate?” 

“Yes.” Eurydice said, and at Hermes’s questioning look, “it’s a long story. I think I accidentally joined a band with him.”

Hermes raised his eyebrows. “Scarily practical Eurydice joined impulsive fantasy boy’s band? What has the world come to?”

“Hermes.”

“You think he’s cute, don’t you?”

“Hermes!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Things I feel are worth mentioning:  
> 1\. I started this for last Christmas, but didn't finish. This took a whole year, so I apologize if the writing style changes throughout.  
> 2\. This is my first Hadestown thing! Very exciting.  
> 3\. The titles comes from Angels We Have Heard on High, as that is my favourite choir song to do carroling, and the one Eurydice sings is Gaudete, which is just a fav choir song in general.  
> 4\. Tumblr is goth-icon-mary-shelley if yall want to be friends
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and happy holidays!


End file.
